This study assessed hourly electricity consumption profiles in railway signal boxes located in Poland. The analyses carried out consisted of assessing the correlation among the hourly demand profile, weather indicators, and calendar indicators, e.g., temperature, cloud cover, day of the week, and month. The analysis allowed us to assess which indicator impacts the energy consumption profile and would be useful when forecasting energy demand. In total, 15 railway signal boxes were selected for analysis and grouped according to three characteristic repeatability profiles. On this basis, six of the signal boxes and one that did not fit into any of the groups were selected for further analysis. Four correlation research methods were selected for analysis: Pearson’s method, Spearman’s method, scatter plots, and distance covariance. The possibility of forecasting electricity consumption based on previously aggregated profiles and determining correlations with indicators was presented. The given indicators vary depending on the facility. Analyses showed different dependencies of the electricity demand profile. The ambient temperature and time of day have the greatest impact on the profile. Regarding the correlation with temperature, the results of the Pearson’s and Spearman’s coefficients ranged from approximately −0.4 to more than −0.8. The highest correlation coefficients were obtained when comparing the demand profile with the previous day. In this case, the Pearson’s and Spearman’s coefficients for all analysed objects range from approximately 0.7 to over 0.9.
Building energy efficiency has grown strong in a context of soaring energy prices, especially in Europe. The use of energy-saving devices strongly influences its improvement, but in many cases, it is far from sufficient., especially if the energy comes from renewable sources with forced production. In the case of buildings, these are usually photovoltaic (PV) sources. For this reason, energy management systems (EMS) are becoming increasingly popular as they allow the increase in self-consumption and reduce the size of energy storage. This article presents analyses of historical energy consumption profiles in selected small- and medium-sized buildings powered by renewable energy sources. The implementation limitations of this type of systems, depending on the profile of the building, were identified and guidelines were presented to assess low-cost solutions dedicated to small buildings and considering the actual conditions of existing systems. Statistical analyzes were conducted for the energy demand profiles of 15 different buildings. The analyzes consisted of the preparation of box plots for each hour of working days and the calculation of the relative standard deviation (RSD) index for annual profiles of 60 min periods. The analyzes showed that the RSD index has low values for commercial buildings (e.g., hospital 7% and bank 15%) and very high values for residential buildings—even over 100%. On this basis, it can be concluded about the usefulness of energy profiles for demand forecasting. The novelty of the proposed method is to examine the possibility of using measurement data as data to forecast energy consumption based on statistical analysis, dedicated to low-cost EMS system solutions.
6 March 2025 in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
The article reports the outcomes of a bilateral comparison utilizing an AC voltage standard featuring PTB/IPHT planar thin-film thermal converters (PMJTCs). The variation in AC-DC voltage transfer difference of the standards was assessed at 1 V, along with specific frequencies ranging from 10 Hz to 1 MHz, in relation to the primary thermal AC voltage standards maintained at the Silesian University of Technology (SUT) in Poland and the Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) in Czech Republic.
Trends in the use of renewable energy sources to power buildings do not bypass objects for which maintaining a power supply is critical. This also applies to railway signal boxes. The aim of the research work was to test the multisource power supply system for a railway signal box with power electronic converter systems and a DC bus, built as part of the research project. The assumption for powering the railway signal box building was to use renewable sources, energy storage devices, and a 3 kV DC traction network as the second required power supply grid. Both power grids were connected by power electronic converters, and the power values of the converters were set based on the calculated power balance values using the values measured at the system nodes and the set constraints. The tests primarily tested the response of the power supply system to changes in load power and power generated by the photovoltaic source, as well as the charge level of the energy storage devices. The correctness of the control algorithm’s operation was assessed based on the recorded power values in the power supply system nodes. The tests were carried out for 60 scenarios that covered all normal and emergency operating conditions. During the tests, delays in response to changes in the power supplied to the converters and the values of circular power flow between the power grid connections were recorded. The recorded delays ranged from 2 to about 50 s and the circular power flows did not exceed 1500 W. Based on the results of the tests, it was found necessary to improve the power measurement system in the power supply system nodes and to improve the quality of communication and the transmission time of measurement data transmission time.
8 August 2014 in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
A method and circuit for determination of the ratio error of an inductive autotransformer voltage divider having a 1:2 nominal ratio are shown in this paper. The circuit is used for measurement of a differential voltage between corresponding taps of the divider investigated and reference inductive divider based on which ratio error is determined. The distinguishing feature of the measuring method developed is the possibility of virtual reconstruction of the rated ratio value of a standard divider. Thus, during the measurement process, there is no need to use the standard divider; instead, a divider having the constant, unknown error is used. The proposed circuit can also measure the leakage impedance of divider windings when using the developed three-stage procedure of measurement. In this paper, the obtained measurement results of the ratio errors and winding leakage impedance for different divider load and in a wide frequency range are presented.